Author: RADHIKA BHAGAT
RADHIKA BHAGAT
Radhika Bhagat is a wildlife conservationist and writer. She is the founder and CEO of Sacred Earth Trust, where her work focuses on biodiversity conservation, ecological restoration, sacred natural sites and ecology
Nepal’s catastrophe highlights growing Himalayan risks for India and millions downstream When the flood struck Nepal’s Trishuli valley on August 26, the world stopped and watched in horror and disbelief. Videos showed a wall of water, mud and rock tearing through the mountain corridor. Homes, vehicles and bridges were swept away within minutes. For families living downstream, there was little time to understand what was happening, let alone escape. The US Geological Survey said it was likely triggered by a rapid slope failure involving a glacier near the Nepal-China border, sending ice, rock and debris almost 100 kilometres downstream. For…
Across the remote hinterland, villages that have sustained communities for generations are steadily losing their people. Migration to towns and cities has left thousands of rural settlements sparsely populated, with many now reduced to ‘ghost villages’ The first thing to disappear from a village is not its people, but its sound. The laughter of children fades from winding paths. Cowbells become less frequent. Schools close for want of students. Terraced fields lie uncultivated, homes remain locked for years, and only a handful of elderly residents are left in settlements that once bustled with life. Across India, this quiet exodus is…
